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Kris Bryant
Kristopher L. Bryant (born January 4, 1992) is an American professional baseball player who is currently playing for the Chicago Cubs organization. He attended the University of San Diego, where he played college baseball for the San Diego Toreros baseball team. Bryant won the Dick Howser Trophy and Golden Spikes Award as the best amateur baseball player in 2013. The Cubs selected him with the second pick in the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft. Amateur career High School Bryant attended Bonanza High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. Playing for the school's varsity baseball team all four years, he recorded a .418 batting average, a .958 slugging percentage (SLG), 103 hits and 47 career home runs. He was named to the USA Today All-USA baseball first-team. The Toronto Blue Jays selected Bryant in the 18th round of the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft. He did not sign, and enrolled at the University of San Diego, to play college baseball for the San Diego Toreros baseball team. College career As a freshman at San Diego in 2011, Bryant had a .365 batting average, a .482 on-base percentage (OBP), and a .599 SLG, with nine home runs. He was named a freshman All-American and the West Coast Conference Co-Freshman of the Year and Co-Player of the Year, sharing both honors with Marco Gonzales. As a sophomore in 2012, he was named a first team All-American by Baseball America after hitting .366 with a .483 OBP and .671 SLG and 14 home runs. That summer, Bryant was selected by USA Baseball to play for the United States collegiate national team. In the 2013 season as a junior, Bryant hit 31 home runs to lead the nation. It is the most home runs hit by a college player since the NCAA switched to a BBCOR composite bat in 2011. It breaks the previous record of 30 set by Victor Roache in 2011. Bryant won the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy, which are both awarded to the top collegiate player in the nation. He was also named a Louisville Slugger First Team All-American and the College Baseball News National Player of the Year. Minor career Bryant was considered to be one of the best available players in the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft, and was scouted by the Houston Astros, who had the first overall pick. After the Astros selected Mark Appel with the first overall selection, the Chicago Cubs chose Bryant with the second overall selection. Bryant agreed to a $6.7 million signing bonus with the Cubs two days prior to the signing deadline. Bryant began his professional career with the Boise Hawks of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League batting .354 with 4 home runs. He was promoted to the Daytona Cubs of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League on August 12. He hit .333 with five home runs for Daytona. After the season he played in Arizona Fall League (AFL). He was named co-player of the week, along with Mitch Haniger, in the first week of the fall league season. He was named the MVP of the AFL after hitting .364/.457/.727 with six home runs in 20 games. Bryant started 2014 with the Double-A Tennessee Smokies. In June he won the 2014 Southern League Home Run Derby and participated in the All-Star game.Bryant slugs way to Double-A Home Run Derby crown On June 18, 2014, Bryant was promoted to the Triple-A Iowa Cubs after batting .355 with 22 home runs and 58 RBI in 68 games with Tennessee.Cubs' prospect Bryant promoted to Iowa In Keith Law's midseason top prospect update in July of 2014, Bryant was ranked as the best prospect in baseball.Cubs' Kris Bryant Rated No 1 Prospect By ESPN At the end of the regular season, Bryant was named the USA Today Minor League Player of the Year and Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year. Professional Career Personal Bryant was named his high school's salutatorian, but allowed a classmate to take the role instead when he found out how badly she wanted it. In college, he majored in biology before switching to finance. His father, Mike, played in minor league baseball for the Boston Red Sox organization. Mike owned a patio furniture store, but sold it in order to get a job that permitted him to coach his son. References External links *San Diego Toreros bio Category:1992 births Category:Living people Category:All-American college players Category:People from the Las Vegas Valley Category:Players from Nevada Category:San Diego Toreros players Category:Arizona League Cubs players Category:Boise Hawks players Category:Daytona Cubs players Category:Tennessee Smokies players Category:Iowa Cubs players Category:Chicago Cubs players Category:Players Category:All-Star Futures Game players Category:Golden Spikes Award winners Category:Third Basemen